Judges lose wages cap exemption

Sean Nicholls -Nov 17, 2012

Following suit ... salary increases for judges will be brought in line with other public service workers. Photo: Michele Mossop

SALARY increases for judges and magistrates in NSW will be brought in line with the rest of the public service and capped at 2.5 per cent after a state government decision to remove their exemption from its wages policy.

However, Supreme Court judges will be awarded a 3 per cent pay rise this year after they argued that restricting their salaries could lead to a loss of talent. As a result a Supreme Court judge will get $402,810 and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court $450,750.

When the Finance Minister, Greg Pearce, announced last year that pay increases for teachers, nurses and other public servants would be capped at 2.5 per cent unless offset by employee-related savings, he said judges and magistrates would be exempt. This was because of an agreement between the states and the federal government in 1989 that the salary of judges and magistrates would not exceed 85 per cent of those of High Court judges.

In its latest salary determination the Statutory and Other Offices Remuneration Tribunal reveals that the state government has decided to make judges and magistrates subject to the cap. It notes that Mr Pearce told parliament the government would continue to review the decision to ensure the salaries of judges and magistrates ''do not place undue pressure on state finances''. The tribunal says it ''respects the government's concern with fiscal rectitude'' and notes the current rate of inflation is ''unusually low'', therefore ''an increase of 2.5 per cent in this year would appear to be quite reasonable''.

A district court judge will be paid $360,770 and magistrates will earn $288,620.

The tribunal accepted a submission from Supreme Court judges warning of the danger of restricting their salaries.

The submission said: ''If appointees to the Supreme Court do not continue to be lawyers, including commercial lawyers, of the highest calibre, the standard of work of the court would diminish, with the potential to damage the state in its aim to be an internationally recognised financial services centre.''